Competitiveness and Innovation Archives

ICC Finland’s Executive Director/CEO and Executive Vice President of the Finland Chamber of Commerce Timo Vuori met with USCIB Senior Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs Rob Mulligan and key staff members of USCIB’s Washington office on February 13. Vuori, a longtime and influential ICC insider and a good friend of USCIB, is also a key board member of the influential “Eurochambres” continental business leadership group.

The wide-ranging discussion with USCIB staff touched on the challenging U.S.-European Union trade agenda including “232” steel and aluminum tariffs, possibly to be expanded to the automotive sector, as well as digital economy, data and tax issues, and the prospects for some sort of U.S.-EU trade negotiations. The underlying political developments on both sides of the Atlantic, including the Brexit developments were also of interest to all. The group discussed the global trade issues including China and WTO reform while touching on challenges in global customs, regulatory and investment policies. The group compared notes on developments inside the global ICC network and possibilities for promoting U.S.-Finnish trade and investment relationships.

“As usual, our USCIB assessments, priorities and concerns often closely aligned with Timo’s,” noted USCIB Vice President Shaun Donnelly. “We very much value our close relationships with key partners in USCIB’s unique global network. ICC Finland has long been one of our closest and most reliable partners. It was a great meeting and we very much appreciate Timo making time to meet with us.”

Vuori was in Washington as part of a Finnish business delegation to meet with the Hill, U.S. agencies and U.S. businesses like USCIB. Vuori also attended an Embassy of Finland dinner, along with USCIB Senior Director Eva Hampl. The theme of the February 12th dinner was “Competitiveness in a Globalized World” and provided an opportunity for a discussion on the impact that trade policies, global companies, technological revolution and politics have on competitiveness. The event was organized on the occasion of the Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade Anne-Mari Virolainen‘s visit to Washington DC.

Trends and Challenges Facing U.S. Business:

Multiple sets of inconsistent rules that drive up costs and result in double taxation

The mounting political pressure to move towards changing the taxation of the digitalized economy

Efforts to unfairly increase the tax burden on companies

USCIB’s Response:

Engage with the OECD on the development of international taxation principles

Proactively shape the development of the OECD’s guidance on the taxation of the digitalized economy by demonstrating to policymakers that unilateral action can result in double taxation, decreased trade, and reduced global growth

Actively monitor and contribute to the work of the UN Committee of Tax Experts to ensure its alignment with the work of the OECD Tax Committee and inform policymakers of their actions’ impact on investment

Support enactment of foreign tax simplification provisions in the IRC that would significantly reduce the burden of complexity for U.S. companies and enhance their international competitiveness

Magnifying Your Voice with USCIB:

USCIB is the only U.S. business association formally affiliated with the world’s three largest business organizations where we work with business leaders across the globe to extend our reach to influence policymakers in key international markets to American business

Build consensus with like-minded industry peers and participate in off-the-record briefings with policymakers both home and abroad.

Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Kevin Hassett interviewed by Cathy Koch, Americas Tax Policy Leader, EY at the 2018 OECD International Tax Conference

On February 8, the Financial Times published a timely letter from Chris Southworth, the secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce ‘s UK national committee, on the adverse impact a “hard Brexit” could have on smaller British traders.

According to Southworth, all the excellent work to ensure port operations remain efficient post Brexit should not distract from the fact that the burden, risk and cost of new trading arrangements will be shifted upstream to companies who will have to do all the additional paperwork before their goods reach the port.

“We need the government to be a lot more honest with business. Leaving the single market will mean hard borders and new burdens,” he wrote in the letter.

The USCIB Foundation, Inc., USCIB’s educational arm, is teaming up once again with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Business at OECD (BIAC), to host the 1st inaugural event of The Joseph H. Alhadeff Digital Economy Conference Series on March 25, 2019 at the AT&T Forum For Technology, Entertainment & Policy in Washington, D.C.

The digital transformation of the global economy has revealed exciting potential for a more prosperous, productive, inclusive, and socially beneficial world. We need an enabling policy environment for investment and innovation, however, in order to make the most of the potential for digital transformation to improve people’s lives and generate prosperity. At the same time, we must be prepared to address how the fruits of digital innovation can create challenges to privacy, security, and the future of work.

This conference – the fourth such collaboration between USCIB, BIAC, and the OECD – will explore the findings of the OECD’s Going Digital Project, an ambitious two-year examination of how digital transformation affects policymaking across a large spectrum of policy areas. We will draw upon the expertise of the OECD Secretariat on Science, Technology, and Innovation, senior U.S. government officials, and business experts from USCIB and BIAC member companies. In particular, speakers will consider how best to secure the digital economy from ever-more sophisticated cybersecurity threats. In addition, experts will delve into both the promise and challenges of tapping the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies.

Featured Speakers

David Redl
Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce

Robert Strayer
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cyber and International Communications and Information Policy, U.S. Department of State

Gail Slater
Special Assistant to the President for Technology, Telecommunications and Cybersecurity Policy, National Economic Council, The White House

Andrew Wyckoff
Director of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI)

Russel Mills
Secretary General, Business at OECD

Anne Carblanc
Head of the OECD Digital Economy Policy Division (CDEP)

Julie Brill
Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation and Co-Chair, Business at OECD Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP)

John Denton, the Australian lawyer and diplomat who last year took the reins as secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the world business organization that serves as the linchpin of USCIB’s global network, met with USCIB members and staff during a visit to New York in early February.

Leading representatives of USCIB member companies from a variety of industries, and reflecting a wide spectrum of expertise across USCIB’s various policy committees, gathered in USCIB’s New York and Washington, D.C. offices. Joined by video conference, they provided the ICC secretary general with their views and priorities across multiple practice areas. Denton took advantage of the opportunity to compare notes on a variety of global economic and business challenges, and laid out his efforts to streamline and re-imagine ICC’s vision, structure and services.

Denton was elected to head the secretariat of the Paris-based ICC in March of last year. A legal expert and adviser on global policy, international trade and investment and infrastructure, Denton previously served on ICC’s Executive Board and, in 2016, became the first Australian to hold the position of first vice chair of ICC.

“There is general concern about the tariff actions, with many members of Congress having signed on to letters either on the section 232 tariffs or on the section 301 exclusion process,” stated Hampl. “However, there is also still a lot of apprehension about publicly pushing back against the President’s actions on tariffs. To those who expressed a desire to wait and see what happens on March 1 – the deadline for reaching a deal with China, to prevent tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports increasing from 10% to 25% — we repeatedly made the point that the time to act is now, as the damage to US industry and consumers increases with every day these tariffs are in place.”

To underline these points, a new study launched showed that in the event that tariffs of 25% go into effect on March 2 on List 3, combined with various other tariffs and retaliation already in place, the net impact on U.S. jobs will be over 900,000 and the annual impact on a family of four over $750. For the complete study, please click here.

United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin will travel to Beijing for principal-level meetings on February 14 and 15, and these meetings will be preceded by deputy-level negotiations beginning on Monday, February 11.

Save the Date!

The 2019 OECD International Tax Conference, June 3-4

Four Seasons Hotel, Washington

This annual conference provides a unique opportunity for the U.S. business community to interact with key representatives from the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration to discuss the latest developments in international taxation. At last year’s conference, Kevin Hassett, Chairman of The Council of Economic Advisors, delivered keynote remarks. Other senior tax officials from the U.S. and other key countries involved in the OECD’s international tax work participated on panels covering the latest developments in the taxation of multinational enterprises including tax treaties, transfer pricing, the work of the Task Force on the Digital Economy, dispute resolution and more.

USCIB Senior Director Eva Hampl will be taking part in a “Tariffs Hurt the Heartland” fly-in on Capitol Hill February 6-7. This fly-in is organized by a broad coalition of business groups that warned about the detrimental impacts of tariffs on Chinese imports on the U.S. economy in a recent press release. Tariffs Hurt the Heartland is the nationwide, non-partisan campaign opposing tariffs that is supported by over 150 trade associations from every industry, including USCIB.

The press release emphasized that new auto tariffs and tariffs on all Chinese imports would lead to 2.2 million job losses, cost the average family over $2,300 and reduce GDP by over 1%. Moreover American workers will lose nearly one million U.S. jobs if tariffs rise to 25 percent on March 1.

The report, which served as the basis for the press release, was prepared by Trade Partnership Worldwide LLC.

USCIB has published its 2019 Trade and Investment Agenda. The Agenda is a result of an intensive consultation process with USCIB members to identify key member priorities for 2019. Per member input, many key principles developed for 2018 remain relevant for this year, though the changing trade and investment landscape has also raised new priorities for 2019.

The annual action plan anticipates a potentially busy year on trade and investment including: pressing for congressional approval of USMCA in 2019, seeking Administration action to resolve differences with China, movement on trade negotiations with Japan, EU and the UK, supporting negotiations in the WTO on a digital trade agreement, and modernizing the WTO,” said USCIB Senior Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs Rob Mulligan. “We look forward to a busy and productive year opening international markets and strengthening the global rules-based trade and investment framework.”

Hosted by Washington, DC Subcommittee Chair, Jonathan Greenblatt of Shearman & Sterling, the Washington Luncheon featured a presentation by and discussion with the Secretary General of the ICC Court Alexander Fessas, who provided an update on the ICC’s cases in 2018, use of the expedited and the emergency arbitrator procedural rules and the ICC Court’s goals for 2019. This was followed by an interactive panel discussion with Grant Hanessian of Baker & McKenzie, Claudia Frutos-Peterson of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, and Christopher Ryan of Shearman & Sterling, providing practical guidance for handling arbitrations involving states and state-entities and describing key differences when handling investor-state and commercial disputes. The program ended with USCIB General Counsel Nancy Thevenin providing an update on developments in USCIB’s Arbitration Committee.

Hosted by Hanessian, the New York Luncheon several days later featured executive summaries from key members of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, including President Alexis Mourre, Secretary General Alexander Fessas and Counsel for North American Cases Marek Krasula. Mourre provided insight into trends in U.S. cases during the past year and expected developments in the coming year. This was followed by a town hall-style Q&A moderated by Claudia Salomon of Latham & Watkins, who also serves as the vice president of the ICC Court, with questions about the ICC Court’s diversity initiatives, arbitrator appointment process and plans to publish some of its awards.